::catholic me::

Religion and the downfall of the English language. (a rant of sorts)

I am incensed, but I will do my best to write this with all the grace I can muster.

Why, you ask, am I infuriated on this Friday morning in the wee small hours? Well, that’s what I am here to tell you, so you are in luck.

I found a rather informative blog post about the downfall of the English language. It caught my eye because of its amusing opening paragraphs, which culminated in the following clever little epitaph;

English Language
R.I.P.
5th Century – 21st Century

I join the writer of said post in his(her?) mourning sighs. ::sighs:: If there’s one thing we regret, English Language, it’s that we hardly knew you.

I have often in the past been angered by this same issue (I am eternally disdaining fragmented sentences, seeing misspelled adjectives, loathing ill-placed apostrophes, and bemoaning the overabundance of the stubborn double negative) but tonight in particular, I am outraged by the gross misuse by many Christian sects of the word ‘religion’.

Facebook’s ‘religious views’ slots on thousands of profiles are spotted with sentences like ‘God is too big for your religion’ or ‘I don’t want religion, just give me Jesus’. While I comprehend perfectly what is meant by such statements, having used them myself on several pious occasions in my former Evangelical life, I have to take this opportunity to stand up in defense of the word ‘religion’, in the interest of the English language and all who claim it for their own. I must with all certitude and conviction fly in the face of word corruption and subjective societal context to clear religion’s good name.

And now, the moment you have with baited breath been awaiting;

“Religion; the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods.”

Not exactly a bad word after all, is it? Would you say that Christianity includes the belief in and worship of God? Here’s another, more specific definition;

“Religion; a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”

Hm..let’s examine the evidence. Is Christianity a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies (God), usually involving devotional and ritual observances (singing, prayer, kneeling, etc) and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs? Yes, other religions fit this definition. But to be intellectually responsible and an educated human being, you must admit that Christianity fits this definition also.

If that isn’t enough to forever stop you from spitting the word ‘religion’ out from your lips like poisoned wine, then perhaps you are seeing something in its definition that I just don’t see.

I am religious; in fact, all humankind is inherently so. Thomas Howard, brother of missionary Elisabeth Elliot, argues thus in several of his books, all of which I strongly recommend. The point is, you could wipe away all traces of organized religion or religious belief from the entire earth, and start from scratch, and some tribal chief in the farthest reaches of the jungle would sneak away to secretly burn a sacred fire to an unknown God–we are indelibly stamped with the image of our Creator and therefore, by the grace of said creation, inherently religious..that is, we know that there is a God, and we are driven to worship. If we do not worship the one true God, we merely misplace the worship that ought to be His. Worship does not disappear…it is only rightly placed or misplaced.

The thing is not to distance Christianity from the word ‘religion’ here…the thing is to reclaim the right use of the word and do the language of English a long overdue service…that is, use it correctly.

So, the next time you are about to tell some poor unfortunate Catholic like myself that “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship”, perhaps you ought to rephrase and say that “Christianity is not *merely* a religion.” That I can accept. Or say that the Christian religion places the most emphasis on relationship with the one true God; this is also a correct use of the word ‘religion’.

The English language and I have a neglected, but exciting, relationship. I don’t know her as well as I wish to, but I sure am giving it a go.